Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Breakfast radio presenters from more than 50 commercial and public radio stations will broadcast live and simultaneously in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide on Friday, 24 August to highlight the fact that digital radio* is now available on selected Australian built Toyota sedans and to celebrate three years of digital radio on air.

The outside broadcast radio event will see competing radio presenters from commercial AM, FM, DAB+ digital radio, the ABC and SBS working side by side in each city from 5.30 am – 9.00 am in the central locations of Sydney (First Fleet Park), Melbourne (Federation Square), Brisbane (King George Square), Adelaide (Victoria Square) and Perth (Perth Cultural Centre) promoting digital radio. Click here to find out more about the event.

Toyota, the first Australian car manufacturer to feature DAB+ digital radio* as standard in its Australian built top of the range sedans, is giving away five of Australia’s best sounding cars on the morning of the event. One winner in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth will be able to choose from one of the next generation Australian built DAB+ equipped vehicles - either a Camry Atara SL, Camry Hybrid HL or an Aurion V6 Presara#. Click here to find out more about Toyota’s most innovative range of sedans ever built in Australia.

Congratulations to Mick Battenbough, the winner of our Facebook competition! "My old Evoke and his newer cousin the DMX50. The DMX is great for recording and playing radio shows via its inbuilt card reader." For your chance to win a One Mini Union Jack, enter our competition below: https://www.facebook.com/PURE/app_170527713075111

Still rare and relatively new to cars, digital radio is not perfect, but is a big step forward in sound quality.

Digital radio has been marketed for home use for a couple of years now, but it's only just making its way into cars sold in Australia.

As with mobile phones – all of which are now digital – the promise is of clearer reception and better sound quality. Digital radio also allows users to record snippets of programs to allow it to be rewound, much the same as modern TV tuners allow recording of programs. It's also handy if your favourite song comes on as your phone rings or one of your passengers decides to divert your ears.

Depending on your location there are also up to 22 additional, digital-only stations, many of which are themed, such as '80s or chill. Some established stations are also using it to effectively rebrand themselves to different target markets.

But digital radio is currently only available in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, with Canberra and Darwin also running trials.

Digital radio has a fight on its hands, though. Streaming of radio stations from anywhere in the world is increasingly popular thanks to easy-to-use smartphone apps and new digital audio players, such as Sonos.

The commercial deployment of the MPEG-DASH (dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP) standard is one step closer with the first live public trial, presented by Belgian public broadcaster VRT. The DASH Promoters Group, supported by the European Broadcasting Union, is facilitating live MPEG-DASH streaming of the 2012 London Olympics, with DRM content protection, to demonstrate the benefits of this unifying standard for adaptive streaming.

This proof of concept was initiated by the EBU, which strongly supports the development of MPEG-DASH as it is a key enabler allowing broadcasters to use a single file and streaming format to deliver content to multiple devices on multiple platforms. “The EBU strives for open, efficient and interoperable broadcast services and we believe MPEG-DASH is a means to these goals,” said Lieven Vermaele, EBU Director of Technology & Innovation. “On a daily basis, our members face the challenge of distributing large libraries of audio and video to an audience that uses a multitude of devices and technologies. MPEG-DASH is a comprehensive solution for them.”

The demonstration features a live video stream encoded using the MPEG-DASH ISO Base Media File Format Live Profile, delivered through Belgacom’s Content Delivery Network to a range of device categories including tablets, smartphones and PCs running iOS, Android and Windows operating systems. This represents the first large-scale multivendor deployment of MPEG-DASH. The demonstration is based on an early version of the DASH-264 interoperability guidelines, specifically developed by the DASH Promoters Group for interoperable deployment of the MPEG-DASH standard. DASH-264 provides a general interoperability framework aligned with the HbbTV 1.5 specification and other consortia recommendations. HbbTV 1.5 will be widely used by European broadcasters for interactive services on connected televisions.

The MPEG DASH trial will be available for the duration of the London Olympic games on the VRT Sporza website, located here: http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza/2.21297. Due to copyright restrictions this content is not available outside the Belgian territory.

Trial Supporters

This trial is supported by a number of DASH Promoters Group members. Encoding is provided by Elemental, Harmonic and Media Excel; streaming origins are courtesy of Wowza and CodeShop, who is also providing encryption; web clients for PC and Android are supplied by Adobe; and BuyDRM is providing applications for iOS and Android, incorporating its DRM solution.

Monday, July 30, 2012

On July 30, the European Broadcasting Union responded to a request from Radio World about its reaction to dot-radio application rival BRS Media Inc.'s request that it withdraw from the running (more on that here). An EBU communications officer released this statement:

"In the interests of the global community represented by the nine World Broadcasting Unions (WBU), the EBU, like many other international organizations, has joined the GAC with observer status. This role does not bestow any voting rights upon the EBU.

"With the full support of the WBU, the EBU submitted an application to be able to create the dot radio community. The EBU would ensure that the dot radio gTLD serves the broader interests of the medium of Radio as a whole, and those of its listeners, and not the commercial interests of a select few.

"ICANN will make a decision according to the principles set out in its Applicants Guidebook, and the EBU will let that process run its course."

The BBC has reached an agreement with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over the international streaming of some of its radio shows.

The Today Programme on Radio Four was unavailable to listeners outside the UK on Friday, as it was broadcast from inside the Olympic park.

Overseas listeners can normally tune in live on the internet or on iPlayer.

The IOC, which holds international broadcast rights from Olympic venues, will now allow access to some shows.

Restrictions had been placed on Chris Evans' Breakfast Show as it is being broadcast from the Olympic park in east London for the duration of the games.

However, following discussions between the BBC and the IOC, it has been agreed that there is no need to block international streams of certain shows, including Radio Two's popular breakfast programme.

Radio Four programmes with a wide news agenda will also be free to broadcast to international listeners.

All programmes on Radio Five Live - except the news programme Up All Night - will remain available only in the UK as they will be devoted to the games.

Mark Friend, head of online services for BBC Audio and Music said: "Unfortunately there are some types of content where we are restricted from distributing overseas, usually because of sports rights.

"The impact of this will be very noticeable throughout the Olympic games because the BBC has the rights to broadcast from Olympic venues only to the UK."

In some cases, when only sections of shows are broadcast from an Olympics site, the BBC said it may be possible to block the Olympics segment and make the rest of the programme available to international audiences.

However, programmes featuring substantial amounts of Olympics content will be blocked, as there are not sufficient resources to edit them.

When an entire programme or a shorter segment is unavailable to overseas listeners, they will hear a message informing them of the rights restrictions in place.

PATNA: Patna University (PU) will soon have its own campus radio for the benefit of its scholars. The university has already approached the competent authorities for providing financial and technical support for setting up this radio station.

Giving details of this initiative, PU vice-chancellor Shambhu Nath Singh told TOI here on Sunday the campus radio is not a new concept in the country. Several universities, including Ignou, are already running it very successfully and it is quite popular in some universities. Working on the pattern of community radio, the campus radio will be run by the students, especially those of journalism and mass communication.

Programming may be exclusively by students or may include programmers from the wider community in which the radio station will be based. Sometimes, the campus radio station may be operated for the purpose of training professional radio personnel, and sometimes with the aim of broadcasting educational programming, he said.

The VC said he had already contacted the Canada-based Commonwealth School of Learning officials and talked to the South Asian chief of the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA), Shreedharan, in this regard. CEMCA has agreed to provide all financial and technical help in setting up the campus radio. The UNDP would also be approached for financial support for this initiative, Singh added.

CRI Tamil - with a network of listeners’ clubs in T.N. - in talks with Chennai’s FM stations for launch of a daily two-hour broadcast

The state-run China Radio International’s Tamil radio station, the most popular of its more than 60 international channels, marked its 49th anniversary here on Sunday announcing plans to expand its presence in India by launching broadcasts on local FM radio stations.

CRI Tamil, which broadcasts on shortwave in Tamil Nadu where it has an extensive network of listeners’ clubs run by 25,000 registered listeners, is in talks with FM radio stations in Chennai to launch a daily two-hour broadcast, Zhao Jiang, CRI Tamil’s director, told The Hindu.

CRI Tamil launched an FM broadcast on Colombo’s FM 102 station in 2010, a move that has enabled it to expand its listeners’ base in Sri Lanka this past year. The channel now broadcasts for four hours in Sri Lanka every day, at 1.30 p.m. and 7.30 p.m.

In an unprecedented weekend of broadcasting, BBC Radio 5 live delivered a record 75 hours of live sports coverage on 23 sports across three different stations – Radio 5 live, 5 live sports extra and 5 live Olympics Extra.

As the official Olympic Station, 5 live is covering London 2012 with a new schedule with coverage from 6am to 1am daily, while 5 live Olympics Extra offers extended commentary and a through-the-night catch-up service, providing listeners with 24-hour access to the Games.

In addition to 5 live’s coverage of London 2012, 5 live sports extra also brought listeners commentary on Lewis Hamilton’s victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix, along with coverage of the LV County Championship and the Northern Rail Rugby League Cup final.

Commenting on the coverage so far, Radio 5 live Controller, Adrian Van Klaveren, said: “Our aim for London 2012 was to bring 5 live listeners coverage of the Olympics as never before. Our news and sports teams have been covering the 2012 story long before Danny Boyle’s spectacular opening ceremony, and now that the Games are finally underway we’re committed to delivering the very best commentaries, together with capturing all the stories as they unfold.

“In addition to our bumper Olympic schedule, 5 live sports extra will continue to deliver commentaries on the other big sporting events, from Test and county cricket to Formula 1 and rugby league. 2012 is a huge summer of sport and 5 live will be there throughout bringing all the drama and excitement as it happens.”

A new commercial radio station was launched in the region this week, targeting the English-speaking community living in Geneva, Lausanne and neighboring France.

Called Radio Frontier, the station will broadcast initially on-line, in English, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. During its first 9 month launch period the station will be available via its website, www.radiofrontier.ch, and via mobile applications. From Spring 2012 it will be transmitted on the new commercial DAB+ transmission network, which will have an audience footprint of over 2 million people across Suisse Romande and neighbouring France. Keep an eye out on knowitall.ch for more details nearer the time.

Founded by media entrepreneurs Peter Sibley, (previous Founder of World Television plc) and Mark Butcher (previous Programme Controller and Breakfast Presenter at World Radio Geneva), the station will be transmitted from new purpose-built broadcast studios in Geneva.

Commenting on the role of Radio Frontier in the community, Mark Butcher says, “Radio Frontier’s mission is to be a ‘public-spirited, commercial radio station’. It aims to be close to the community, close to the audience and close to local business.”

Peter Sibley adds, “I’ve been living and running a business here for ten years and I know how much the region misses a local radio station concentrating on local news and events. We’ve created Frontier Radio to connect with the local community and business and help to create a feeling of substance and continuity. If we get this right the audience could be large.”

Radio Frontier’s parent company Anglo Media SA is funded by a group of private investors who are based in Switzerland, UK, France and Italy. The launch of Radio Frontier marks the first stage in the launch of a number of new English speaking radio stations for the growing Anglophone communities across Europe.

Sodo, 24 June: An FM radio 99.9 station established by the Fana Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) at Wolita Sodo town of South Ethiopia Peoples State [Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' State, in southern Ethiopia] at a cost of 8m birr goes on air.

Speaking at the inauguration on Saturday [23 June], The state communication affairs office head, Husayn Nuredin, said government policy and strategy enables private and public media to play significant role in accessing information to the public. He said the station would serve as forum for the realization of the renaissance of the nation for the public and executive at all levels.

The station would play remarkable role in the fight against rent seeking mentality in urban areas, he said.

The Ethiopian Broadcast Authority director-general, Desta Tesfaw, said government is pursuing expansion of mass media. To this effect, community radios are expanding and results have been achieved, he said.

FBC Chief Executive Officer Woldu Ymesel, on his part, said the station is a ninth one across the country. He said the station would contribute in the effort to speed up development and to ensure good governance and democracy in the country.

ZAMBIA’S first tourism radio station, Falls FM is set to market the country’s tourism potential from the tourist capital, managing director Innocent Kabwe has said.

Mr Kabwe said the project which has gobbled more than K350 million to set up, focused on marketing tourism and public relations for the country.

Speaking in an interview in Livingstone yesterday, he said the electronic media was important for the promotion of tourism especially the radio bearing in mind the poor reading culture.

“We are doing the test transmission on 90.1 FM and we are waiting for the final go ahead by the Government,” he said.

He said everything was in place for the station to start operating and that it would be accessed by all embassies and high commissions as it would stream online.

He said the station would help in the promotion of domestic tourism as the Government would want to promote this aspect of tourism.

Mr Kabwe said his station had asked the Zambia Tourism Board (ZTB) and Livingstone Tourism Association (LTA) to be on board on the radio station as it would offer 80 per cent of its air time to tourism.

He said once the station was fully operational, it would create a number of jobs for the local people.

Mr Kabwe said he had attended meetings on the preparations for the two countries (Zambia and Zimbabwe) to co-host the 20th session of United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) general assembly next year and the new station would like to play a key role in the marketing of Livingstone and that it would be more informative.

“We want everyone to know about the cultural heritage of the country and that people should know that it is cheaper to come for a holiday in Livingstone,” he said.

Mr Kabwe urged young people not to wait for the Government to create employment.

He called on tour operators to partner with the radio by advertising on the station as it would be a way of giving back to the community.

Susy Radio will broadcast to Redhill, Reigate, Gatwick, north Crawley and the surrounding area from noon.

Test transmissions are currently under way on 103.4FM and online.

Susy's programme controller Geoff Rogers said: "We start our full programming schedules on Sunday and can't wait to deliver a proper local radio service for the community that we are licensed to serve.

"We promise listeners an excellent line-up of shows from some first-rate presenters."

Susy's chairman Neil Munday added: "There's much to do but we'll make it.

"We won't be just keeping ourselves in the confines of the studio but getting out and meeting the community, just as we did on virtually every day during the recent Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations."

For more information about the station check out Susy radio on Facebook, on Twitter, or log on to www.susyradio.com to listen to broadcasts.

Singapore's first radio station targeted at women aged 30 to 35 years old was officially launched by Singapore Press Holdings' SPH UnionWorks today at the Jewel Box on Mount Faber.

Named "Kiss 92", the station on the brand new 92.0fm frequency is a female-centric station with music specifically tailored to the target audience's taste, with familiar tunes and the best new music, revealed general manager of SPH UnionWorks Goh Wee Wang.

DJ Maddy Barber from sister station 91.3 will be crossing over to helm the Morning Drive Time from 6am to 10am with The New Paper's Movie Guy, Jason Johnson.

Popular newsreader Arnold Gay will be joining the team from Reuters to report the news on the radio every morning.

Jeremy Ratnam, another familiar stalwart in the radio scene, will helm the Evening Drive Time from 4pm to 8pm, bringing his trademark easy-on-the-ear coolness.

Also joining the Kiss 92 family is DJ and Jazz Diva Claressa Monteiro, keeping the mid-day fire burning from 10am to 2pm.

Adding a dose of Hollywood glamour on weeknights from 8pm till midnight is Ryan Seacrest, bringing listeners the Biggest Stars and all the latest music and entertainment news and gossip with his "On Air with Ryan Seacrest".

Kiss 92 will also see experts share their knowledge both On-Air and Online on a range of topics including travel, food, relationships and family matters, shopping and entertainment, health and wellness, fashion and beauty, financial planning, and more.

It will also offer listings of family-friendly and community events, give listeners exclusive offers and discounts through the Kiss 92 Mobile App, allow them to directly influence the playlist, and take part in a number of exciting signature events.

Adding to the excitement at SPH UnionWorks are sister stations 91.3 and 100.3, with both undergoing a face-lift and getting new names and logos.

From July 19, Radio 100.3 will be known as UFM 100.3, with a new tagline - UFM 100.3 is about life. Playing your favourite music, presenting the most interesting content!

Come Aug 1, 91.3 will be known as HOT FM91.3.

HOT FM91.3 will continue to be the home of Singapore's Hottest Morning Show "Rod Monteiro and The Married Men" and their wacky morning wit, while changes in the DJ line-up will see Charmaine Yee taking over the 4pm to 7.30pm show solo in August, to be joined by former MTV star Jamie Aditya in September.

“Our aim when we get a full time license is to report the local issues that affect people in the city.”

The station has worked out a special schedule for its latest restricted license, which runs through the bulk of the London Olympic Games.

The line up comprises talk based shows in the morning, entertainment in the afternoon, and specialist music shows in the evening.

Mr Mason added that additional funding secured from the National Lottery’s Big Lottery Fund this week will aid the station’s bid for a full-time license.

“It will enable us to build an extra studio and invest in new equipment that will give us outside broadcast capabilities,” he added.

“We’ll also be employing a studio technician and a diversity officer, so it’s very important funding that will take the station forward in many ways.”

To date the Lottery funding has been used to train 700 local people in radio broadcasting, while separate funds from the BBC Children in Need Appeal has been used to introduce 100 youngsters aged 13 to 18 years old to radio.

The need for a local license is echoed by Wayne Fitzgerald, station director at Radio Peterborough, who said: “It’s remarkable, given the size of the town, that it doesn’t have its own station.”

Mr Fitzgerald added that Radio Peterborough’s recent month long broadcasts were well received by listeners, garnering 5,000 Facebook followers despite the station’s standing start.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Quiz Question:“In August we would like to know the name of the Czech chemist who was behind the development of a number of groundbreaking antiretroviral drugs used around the world to treat diseases such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis B and who sadly passed away in July 2012, aged 75.”

July Winner : Jaroslaw Jedrzejczak from Poland

Please send us your answers by August 24th. We are also looking forward to your comments – either by e-mail or on Facebook – as well your questions and reception reports. Until next time, happy listening.

The 38th Annual Gathering / 11th AIBD General Conference & Associated Meetings in Kathmandu, Nepal, has elected Indonesia and Bangladesh as the new General Conference President and Vice President, and Pakistan as Chair of the Executive Board.

The General Conference in Kathmandu also elected Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka as the new members of the Executive Board, in addition to the current member countries such as China, France, India, Korea and Philippines.

In any media organization, knowing your audience is essential to your success. Private media firms such as Fox, MGM, Viacom or CBS spends tens of millions of dollars to pilot and test new programming, to research audience preferences and to track audience reach. As Michael Lynton, CEO of Sony Corporation of America and the BBG’s presiding governor, said recently: “Without research you are flying blind.”

At the BBG, we want to know as much as we can about our audiences. We recently partnered with a world-class firm, Gallup, to run our global audience research program.

Recently, thousands of people in Iran received calls on our behalf from Gallup to help us know more about this important audience.

From this survey we learned some interesting facts: Two-thirds of Iranian households have access to computers, and 39 percent of Iranians surf the Internet weekly, 100% have televisions in their homes, and 90% have mobile phones. Internet use has doubled in the past two years, and the spread of computer and Internet use is taking place across both genders. Given that satellite dishes are illegal and the Internet is censored in Iran, this information seems rather remarkable.

Research in Iran – or any other country where we broadcast – is designed to inform us about what media platforms are being used, how they are being used and by whom. We’re using this and other data to help us decide on the best ways to reach the most people.

It’s all part of our global research program, which is aimed at measuring and improving the performance of our programs and brands, informing our strategic plans going forward and understanding the impact our broadcasts are having on target audiences.

In addition to the phone survey to Iran, Gallup also has interviewed Tibetan travelers reached during the Dalai Lama’s recent Kalachakra teachings in Bodhgaya, India, about their sources of news and information. Details of that survey will be released on July 26, followed by reports on media use in Nigeria in August and Burma in September.

Our partnership with Gallup is helping us to better understand our audiences at a time when we must make the most efficient use of our shrinking budget dollars. I couldn’t put it any clearer than BBG Governor Michael Meehan, who observed, “Research is key to knowing our audiences so we can serve them better and be even more effective with the limited resources we have.”

Friday, July 27, 2012

Who will manage “dot-radio?” This is a question currently gaining traction. If you haven't heard it yet, you soon will.

Last month, Radio World reported that four organizations — European Broadcasting Union, BRS Media Inc., Tin Dale LLC and Afilias Ltd. — have applied for the registry of that new generic top-level domain, as part of a planned dramatic expansion in the Internet’s domain name system.

Who are these four, and what are their plans for “dot-radio?” Radio World takes a closer look.

The first up is EBU, a confederation of 85 broadcasting organizations from 56 countries, and 37 associate broadcasters from a further 22 countries. Among prominent members are the British Broadcasting Company, Italy’s RAI and Radio France Internationale.

EBU recently came under some criticism from its dot-radio competitor BRS Media for what BRS cites as a conflict of interest in its application. EBU currently sits on the Governmental Advisory Committee for ICANN, and ICANN is the governing body that will decide who gets to manage dot-radio. Last week, BRS Media chairman and CEO George Bundy sent a letter to chair of the GAC, Heather Dryden, requesting that EBU withdraw its application to manage dot-radio, citing an unfair advantage.

The following answers were excerpted from a longer company-released statement from EBU, which was released prior to the BRS complaint and sent as a response to specific Radio World questions about their application. Some spelling has been modified.

Stay tuned for profiles of the three other dot-radio applicants, and more response from EBU about its place on the GAC.

ABC Radio has just launched a new App, designed for both iPhones and Androids, which puts all the ABC’s main analog and digital stations into the hands of Australia’s 2 million smart phone users.

The free App offers track or program information; automatic bookmarking of the most recently listened to stations; weekly online schedules; and the option to share what you’re listening to on Facebook, Twitter or via email. Android users also have an alarm feature, allowing users to wake up with ABC Radio.

The ABC Radio App gives listeners easy access to 19 radio stations from the national broadcaster and also the pop up stations, like ABC London Olympics, that come and go.

It allows listeners to hear all their favourite stations anywhere, anytime, plus over the coming weeks they will be able to listen to all the action live from the London 2012 Olympic Games on the special events station ABC London 2012. Like any smart phone app, the user pays for the data charges of streaming the audio via 3G or WiFi.

The ABC Radio App is available from the App Store for iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - and for Android phones from the Google Play Store.

iPhone

The iPhone version of the ABC Radio App is designed for devices running iOS 4.0 and above. The app streams HLS over AAC+ at 64kbps, which uses about 29MB/hour. Written in objective C, the fully native app is built for speed.

Android

The Android App is designed for devices running Android 2.1 and above and has been optimised for viewing on 480x800, 720x1280, 240x320, 800x1280 screens. It uses a Shoutcast mp3 stream at 96kbs, which uses about 44 MB/hour.

When radioinfo downloaded and tested the iPhone version of the App today it opened and played quickly, with little buffering. Song playing and album art info continued to feed, even when the audio was off. When accessing schedule and other information, the audio continued to stream without a hitch.

The ABC Radio App is optimised to deliver fast and easy access to the following stations:

Panjab Radio has become one of the first UK Asian radio stations to launch its own digital application, which can be downloaded on the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

Founded twelve years ago by the highly respected Punjabi community figurehead, Surjit Singh Ghuman MBE, Panjab Radio is an established station that offers a wide range of programmes, topics, music, news, views and religious sermons.

Surjit Singh Ghuman CEO said, “I am very honoured to unveil the PANJAB RADIO APP, that will not only help PANJAB RADIO grow across the globe, but also ensure our listeners will be able to access the station on a platform that fits in within our 20th century community.”

Ghuman added, “With the Panjab Radio app we will be able to further globalise the PANJAB RADIO brand that can be enjoyed anywhere and anytime.”

None of Radio 4's news programmes will be available to listen to internationally, apart from some non-Games related elements of Today, because the corporation's media rights agreement with the IOC bars it from broadcasting anything online outside the UK from the Olympic Park or other Olympic venues.

The IOC ban will also hit Radio 5 Live news shows being broadcast live from London 2012 venues, including Live Olympic Breakfast, for the duration of the Games.

It is too complicated – and expensive – for the programmes to be re-edited for the international audience because of the amount of Olympics content involved, so the programmes affected have been taken offline permanently for the duration of the Games, according to a BBC spokesman, with the exception of Today.

As a result, holidaying Radio 4 listeners will have to go without many of the station's regular news programmes for the duration of the London Games, which officially starts on Friday evening and runs until Sunday 12 August.

Hours before the opening ceremony of the London Olympics, bbcrussian.com will air a special, one-off edition of London Calling - a live webcast with audience involvement about the upcoming games.

Broadcast via the website bbcrussian.com from BBC Russian’s London studio from 16.00 London time (19.00 Moscow time), London Calling will also be shown live on the BBC Russian partner station in Moscow, Dozhd TV.

The 90-minute London Calling will be hosted by BBC Russian’s Seva Novgorodsev, who will be joined by presenters, Anastasia Uspenskaya, Jana Litvinova and Oleg Antonenko.

Taking the place of usual editions of radio programmes Vam Slovo and BBSeva, the programme will also be available to listen again.

Olympic and world champions of the past, coaches and parents of the present Olympians, as well as famous journalists and musicians with Olympic connections will tell their stories on London Calling. Guests include:

Seva Novgorodsev says: “With London Calling, we want to create a very special connection between London on the one hand and Russian Olympic past and present on the other. From London traffic-jams to the design of the Russian Olympic team kit, London Calling will bring our audiences an informed and inspired conversation - just as the world counts down to the official start of the spectacular global sporting event.”

BBC Russian has invited users of bbcrussian.com as well as social networks, Facebook, Twitter and Vkontakte, to take part in the broadcast by asking their questions.

EBU Vice-President Claudio Cappon and President of the Parliament Ranko Krivokapic

Podgorica, Montenegro - EBU Vice-President Claudio Cappon has urged Montenegrin politicians to boost support for their country's public broadcaster, RTCG, as it struggles with reduced funding, despite making notable efficiency savings and job cuts over the past year.

Mr Cappon, accompanied by former EBU Vice-President Boris Bergant and David Lewis, Head of the EBU Partnership Programme, held separate talks in the Montenegrin capital yesterday (26 July) with Culture Minister Milorad Katnic, Finance Minister Branislav Micunovic, and President of the Parliament Ranko Krivokapic.

This year RTCG's public funding is expected to drop to around €7.5 million – down from €10.3 million in 2009 – making it the lowest in the region.

Although advertising revenue is set to rise from 2011 levels, the broadcaster will have less than €10 million this year to fund two radio channels and two TV channels. Adding to the pressure, on the day of Mr Cappon's visit, the Montenegrin Parliament voted to establish a new parliamentary channel to be operated by RTCG – with no provision for extra funding.

Mr Cappon said RTCG had made successful reforms and increased audience figures since director general Rade Vojvodic was appointed last December. But he said RTCG needed more funding, not only to perform its regular mandate, but also to repay urgent debts and digitalize its production facilities ahead of an analogue switch-off scheduled for 2015.

RTCG also requires government help to finance severance payments; it has cut its staff from 833 in January 2011 to 720 in July 2012, and plans to reduce that number to just over 600. At the moment it can afford neither to cut nor maintain its current headcount.

The EBU delegation was accompanied for its talks with Mr Micunovic and Mr Krivokapic by Mladenka Tesic of the Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro. This was the first example of concrete cooperation between the EBU and the EU since signature in Brussels on 24 July of a Memorandum of Understanding on enabling the democratic role of public service media in EU accession countries.

This was a return visit for the EBU Vice-President, who visited Podgorica in early 2011 to launch a programme of strategic assistance for RTCG conducted by Mr Bergant on behalf of the EBU's Partnership Programme.

Robert Zaal, the current head of Dutch media group RTV North Holland has been named as the new director of Radio Netherlands Worldwide.

He will be responsible for leading the implementation of RNW’s new direction, focussed on free speech. As of 2013, RNW will operate primarily in Africa and the Arab world, but also in countries such as China, Cuba, Venezuela and Mexico.

Announcing the appointment, the chairman of RNW's Supervisory Board Bernard Bot said, “after the most turbulent and painful period in RNW’s history, the organisation is now almost ready to embark on its new future. Robert Zaal has extensive experience in the areas of free speech, media and management. He’s the right person in the right place.”

Zaal said he was pleased with the step. “It’s an honour to be able to contribute to promoting free speech around the world. This is more than just a regular job for me. It will be a challenge, together with the new editor-in-chief, to steer RNW in this new phase. There’s a good plan for RNW 3.0 and we will implement it in a serious and business-like fashion.”

RNW’s current director, Jan Hoek, remains responsible for activities related to the winding down of the old organisation. Zaal will take over on November 1st.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

National sports station talkSPORT has secured the exclusive commercial radio rights for FA Cup for the first time in UK and global rights including Europe for talkSPORT International which launches next month.

The deal also includes Community Shield worldwide rights and selected England Games UK rights.

The station will be broadcasting live audio commentary of FA Cup matches in the UK following today’s agreement with the Football Association.

Additionally, talkSPORT’s new international service talkSPORT Live launches on 18 August and will offer access to FA Cup matches as well as all Premier League games with distribution via the internet, mobile apps and international broadcast partners.

The Football Association (FA) has agreed a new six season deal with BBC Sport for the radio commentary rights for all men's and women's FA Cup & International matches along with the Community Shield.

The deal covers the qualification campaigns for the 2014 and 2018 World Cups, and the 2016 European Championships.

Barbara Slater, Director, BBC Sport, said: “We're delighted to have secured another agreement for the commentary rights on BBC Radio 5 live for the FA Cup and International matches. Both have a strong heritage on BBC radio and are hugely valued by our listeners. It’s really exciting to take it forward for another six seasons.”

The agreement covers the 2012/13 season and runs through to the end of the 2017/18 season.

Adrian Van-Klaveren, Controller, BBC Radio 5 live, says: “The agreement means we can continue to offer BBC Radio 5 live listeners the best coverage of matches and tournaments which they really care about. We’re delighted that we will continue to capture all the action and drama over the next six seasons.”

Alex Horne, General Secretary for The FA, comments: “We’re delighted that the BBC will be bringing The FA Cup, England internationals and the Community Shield to large audiences nationwide. It will be an exciting year for England as Roy Hodgson leads us into the World Cup qualifying campaign and some mouth-watering fixtures as part of The FA’s 150th anniversary celebrations. We thank BBC 5 Radio live for their support and look forward to working with them over the next six seasons.”

The ABU General Assembly, which takes place from October 10–18 in Seoul, Korea, will feature three days of special events for broadcasting engineers and technicians.

During the three-day technical meeting, slated for October 12–14, the ABU technical department will organize a lineup of events. The first day, says the organization, will include the official opening and announcements of this year’s winners of the ABU Engineering Excellence Awards, the ABU Green Broadcast Engineering Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as the Technical Review Best Article prizes.

The second day will highlight discussions, running parallel, centered around the ABU Digital Radio forum and the Developing Broadcasters’ Forum in addition to two technical workshops.

On the third day, host Korean Broadcasting System will organize a special topic session, followed by the introduction of new ABU members and all local members.

During the gathering elections to the technical bureau and its office bearers will also take place. The current member of the bureau and the chairman and vice chairman of the technical committee will complete their two-year term at the end of 2012.

(Baden-Baden, July 25, 2012) One year after opening of the nationwide digital radio market participants and project partners to develop as an extremely positive.The positive mood underscore not only the most recent analysis Bavarian Radio 2012 with a detailed investigation using digital radio, the media analysis, radio II in 2012 and the positive response of the individual program provider.Also on the equipment market, has developed a momentum that spurred the trend for digital radio.On a year ago, 1August 2011, launched the first nationwide digital radioOffer, then consisting of three public and nine private Programs. In subsequent months, the country's broadcasters ARD their digital radio programs broadcast in the areas to be activated, a total of more than 60 deals between North Sea and the Alps. And the variety of programs grows from week to week. Thus, in some provinces nationwide, regional and local private programs to come. In Munich, as can some 40 radio stations via digital radio can be received in Leipzig on 20 and Stuttgart in about 25 programs. While there were a year ago, around 120 different device models, the listener choose today between about 160 different digital radio equipment in all price categories. Parallel to the dynamic development in the equipment market and the network is spreading out more and more. The signals from terrestrial transmitters can be received by about 3/4 of the population and in about 4/5 the size of Germany. Radio analysis Bavaria in 2012 attests to the digital radio programs in Bavaria shortly after the DAB + launch a "respectable audience." According to the study of the Bavarian Media Authority (BLM) scored the digital radio in the course of an average 2-week period, a reach of 800,000 listeners in Bavaria.

"On appealing content and applications, it is also to continue," said Michael Reichert, director of the Project Office Digital Radio. "We have learned to subordinate the programming aspects of the technology added value." Also, the dealer must now go about to "sell appliances with new non-technical distribution channel, but utterly modern radios that receive programs in many ways - at best, just on FM, DAB and the Internet." Christopher Kruse, CEO of Digital Regiocast, sees the path of 90elf confirmed. "The response from our listeners, the great possibilities of the technology others at our station 90elf and rising sales of digital radio sets are the factual evidence of the acceptance of the new distribution path. We are proud of what we have achieved together with all partners in the first 12 months and are pleased to help develop in the years to DAB + radio to a central distribution channel. For a special-interest channels such as 90elf, Germany's football radio, digital radio is an integral part of the business model and the multi-platform strategy of the sender. " The state broadcasters ARD will accelerate in the coming months, their market communication on digital radio on. "With a wide-ranging information campaign in the coming months we are planning the awareness of our digitally increase over antenna broadcast channels significantly and also want to make you curious also to the enhanced digital options for use of our services," announces the Digital Radio Co-ordinator of the ARD, Joachim Kraus on. The state broadcasters, says Kraus would continue, not least use their wide-reaching programs to achieve their goal. Digital radio and hands-on experience
Digital radio will be presented at the IFA (31.08.-09.05.2012) located in various areas be, especially at the state of the ARD in Germany and Radio in Hall 2.2, as well as numerous articles on equipment manufacturers. Schwerpunkttag for Digital Radio is the third September 2012 with the event, "Digital Radio 2012/2013".

Since the Telecommunications Act of 1996 encouraged group owners to acquire more stations in each market and consolidate personnel, many talented people have found themselves — voluntarily or by executive fiat — looking for work elsewhere.

“I believe that the executives have decimated radio,” said Ken Dardis, president of Audio Graphics, a Chagrin Falls, Ohio consultancy. “It’s been one misstep after another. While owners were in their consolidation mindset, people like me were asking how they’d pay for it. The multiples they were paying for the stations were not reasonable.”

Ownership might feel otherwise. But it’s indisputable that for some companies, the solution to the red ink was cutting costs, which meant staff. But where do the employees who were downsized go? Some have gone into allied fields such as voice work, mobile music or equipment sales, satellite services, production companies or radio’s various software suppliers.

“A general manager once told me that radio is built on sand,” said Michael Neff, freelance radio commercial producer and voice specialist. “He said that no matter how good the reputation of your station or what its heritage status may be, you should be prepared to shift laterally or else shift downward. My dad told me that what’s important is how you recoil.”

Neff said that when people are removed from their jobs, they have a choice. “They can say ‘I got screwed’ or they can regroup and go on. I chose the latter.”

Malawi Communication Regulatory Authority (MACRA) has issued 15 broadcasting licenses to applicants who applied for them two years ago.

MACRA director general, Charles Nsaliwa said 22 applications have been successful but they will be doing the announcements in phases. He said in total, MACRA received 36 applications.

"Broadcasting is powerful and sensitive"

"The process of awarding licenses involves the government as broadcasting is powerful and sensitive," said Nsaliwa. "To those of you who are not successful you should still wait when we will advertise next time," he added.

The awarding of licenses in this manner is a departure from the regime of president Bingu wa Mutharika who had decided to only give such licenses to those deemed to tow his political philosophy.

The Malawi chapter of Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-Malawi) has applauded the administration of president Joyce Banda for upholding media freedom with the issuance of the licenses.

"I urge media houses to roll out within the stipulated time so that their licenses should not be revoked," advised MISA-Malawi chairperson, Anthony Kasunda. He told The Daily Times that this is a milestone in the history of broadcasting media in the country.

"MISA-Malawi advocates for media pluralism and we believe Malawians have a right to access information from a medium of their choice," said Kasunda, who paid tribute to president Banda for striving to live up to her pledge of respecting media freedom in the country.

Television and radio licenses issued

MACRA announced on Wednesday, 25 July 2012, at a media conference, that it has issued television and radio licenses to applicants.

Seven applicants have been awarded television licenses and they include Times Television owned by Times Group Company.

The others are Zodiak Television who already runs a radio, Zodiak Broadcasting Station (ZBS), Chancellor College Community of the University of Malawi, Adventist, Timveni, supported by Plan Malawi, Good News and Beta TV.

Listener-driven radio (LDR) is helping the Afrikaans music scene grow through Ja.fm, an online radio station provided by Kagiso Media's Jacaranda FM. The technology is being endorsed by Afrikaans musicians such as Snotkop and Christiaan Botha, who see it as a way of improving engagement with their audiences and bringing new music to the attention of the public.

According to Attila Bernariusz, divisional head of Kagiso Digital, the station is experiencing good growth in listeners every month as South Africans and South African expats tune in to hear the latest Afrikaans music.

The channel plays a wide range of Afrikaans music and gets the audience to steer the playlist through their online votes. Nearly anything goes - as long as it is Afrikaans - from Bok van Blerk, Bobby van Jaarsveld and Anneli van Rooyen to Glaskas, Fokofpolisiekar and Jack Parow.

"Listeners become highly engaged with the platform because they feel like they are shaping the music that it plays," says Bernariusz. "Our charts are an interesting reflection of the music that listeners want to hear."

"An accurate snapshot"

Snotkop concurs, "The system is incredible for artists, as it is a true reflection of what is popular at any current time. It is an accurate snapshot of what people want to hear. It also affords an opportunity for artists who might not enjoy a lot of exposure on radio to be heard and exposed."

"Things can quite easily become boring and many artists fall into the trap of thinking that the music traditional radio stations play is the only music the public want to hear," says Christiaan Botha, lead singer and guitarist for NRG. "Because of this, artists' creative thoughts stagnate and before we know it, we all just do the same thing instead of leading with new ideas. LDR has not only given the listener the power to choose, but it has also empowered the artist."

Creating an online Afrikaans radio station was a natural move for Kagiso Media because the Afrikaans music scene is more vibrant than ever before, says Bernariusz. Afrikaans language and its culture are reportedly stronger than ever, with Afrikaans listeners displaying a real passion for Afrikaans music.

The success proves that there is a viable business model for niche, online radio stations, Bernariusz says. Serving more than 20 000 LDR sessions over a 30-day period and with audience interaction rates growing at 13% in the last month, it is quickly establishing itself as a popular online radio station in South Africa.